Vial with hook

ABSTRACT

A vial formed two pouches of thermoformed material has a planar top portion and a lower portion with a bulbous portion. The top portion has a notch forming a hook adapted to receive the top of a bottle to hold the vial on the bottle. The bulbous portion defines a cavity for holding contents to be added to the bottle. A line of weakening extends across the vial for opening.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The instant application is a U.S. utility application which claims thebenefit of 62/870,260 filed Jul. 3, 2019, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

A vial for hanging on a bottle top and more particularly a vial forholding product for adding to a beverage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many consumers wish to add products such as dietary supplements,vitamins to their beverages. These products may be vitamins, dietarysupplements and CBD oil, etc. Many of these products are best when addedto beverage liquid just prior to drinking. Some of these products losetheir strength if added to the beverage before drinking. Additionally,it is desirable to provide a component in an amount which is proper tobe mixed with volume of the liquid. Thus, it would be advantageous tohave a container which could be used in a bar or restaurant to deliverthe product to the consumer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A vial for hanging on a top of a bottle includes a body with an upperportion with a hook and a lower portion having a bulbous portiondefining a cavity for holding a product. The hook is formed by a notchextending upwardly from a bottom of the top portion. The lower portionhas a peripheral edge which extends parallel with the axis of the notchto position the vial on a neck portion of the bottle. The body is formedof two thermoformed panels.

described herein, including the detailed description which follows, theclaims, as well as the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vial for use of a bottle top inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a frontal view of the vial in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view of a panel before assembly; and

FIG. 5 is a exploded side view of two panels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, a vial 10 for a product to be added to beveragescontained in bottle 12 has a hook 14 for hanging on a top 15 of thebottle 12. The product is, typically, an additive, such as vitamins, CBDoil, of which are to be added to the beverage. The product may be liquidor granular. The vial 10 has a top portion 16 and a lower portion 18 forholding a product. The top portion 16 has an upper edge 22 extendingbetween a pair of side edges 24. The hook 12 is formed by one of a pairof side edges 26 forming a notch 20 which extends upwardly from a bottom27 of the top portion 16 of the vial 14 and one of the side edges 26.

The pair of sides 26 extend inwardly to a curved portion 28 to define aninverted U-shape. The sides 26 are generally parallel and the axis “a”extends at an angle of approximately 7-11® with respect to a verticalaxis “v” of the vial to position the vial on the bottle 12. The notch 20has a width and depth which is formed to accommodate the dimensions ofthe bottle top 15 of a typical glass container, such as a beer bottle.In the preferred embodiment, the sides 26 are spaced apart approximately5.3 mm to freely accept the top of the bottle.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lower portion 18 has a flat peripheralportion 22 which extends around bulbous portion 30. The peripheralportion 23 has a pair of opposed side edges 32 which extend upwardlytowards the top portion 16. The side edge 32 beneath the hook 14 has anabutment portion 34 formed to rest on a portion of the neck of thebottle keep the vial in a generally vertical alignment.

The bulbous portion 30 defines a cavity 36 for holding the product. Thetop of the bulbous portion 30 has a cylindrical neck portion 38 at thetop. A line of weakening 40 extends across the neck portion 38 to permitthe top portion 16 to be separated from the lower portion 18 and provideaccess to the contents of the bulbous portion 30 through the neckportion 38. The planar top portion 16 is grasped to bend the top portion16 downwardly to open the vial 10.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the vials are formed from two rectangularpanels 42 of a thermoformed laminate material. A suitable laminate ispolyvinylchloride/ethylene vinyl/polyethylene “PVC/EVOH/PE. Each panelhas a series of depressions 44 are heat molded both panels 42.Alternatively, one panel may be flat. A top portion 46 of the panel 42is angled downwardly. The depressions 44 are spaced apart and have theshape of the bulbous portion 30. A decorative pattern 48 may be moldedinto the depression 42.

As shown in FIG. 5, the two panels 42 are overlayed are the bondedtogether along the peripheral portion 23 of the bottom portion by heatsealing. However, depending upon materials used, other method of sealingmay include ultrasound welding or glue. After the peripheral portions ofthe panels around the bulbous portion are sealed together, the topportions 46 are angled apart to form a V shape extending down to anopening formed by the neck portion 38 to provide access to the cavity.The bonded pairs of panels are then fed into a filling machine whichdeposits the desired amount of the product into the cavity through theneck. The panels are then moved to a seal machine which then uses sealbars to push the top portions 46 of the panels together and then sealthe top portions 46 together. The sealed panels are then moved to a diecutter. Individual vials are formed by dies which cuts the shape of thetop, the hook and trim the outer peripheral edges to form a desiredshape of the vial. The line of weakening is also cut. The line ofweakening has a depth of one half of a thickness of one panel 42.

Thus is disclosed a new vial for containing dry or liquid componentswhich has a hook to hang the container on the top of a bottle so thatthe product may be served at the same time as the open bottle. The vialis easy to use and inexpensive.

We claim:
 1. A vial for hanging on a top of a bottle comprising: a pairof panels affixed together forming a body having a top portion and abottom portion, the top portion having a side edge and a notch forming ahook, the bottom portion having a bulbous portion defining a cavity forholding contents and a parting line exiting across the bulbous portionopening of the cavity.
 2. The vial of claim 1, wherein the panels arethermoformed material.
 3. The vial of claim 1, wherein the top portionhas a bottom and an upper edge wherein the notch extends towards theupper edge.
 4. The vial of claim 1, wherein the notch extends at anangle of 7 to 11 degrees with respect to a vertical axis of the vial. 5.The vial of claim 1, wherein the notch is defined by a pair of spacedapart generally parallel edges.
 6. The vial of claim 1, wherein thebulbous portion has a spout portion and the parting line extends acrossthe spout portion.
 7. The vial of claim 1, wherein the laminate isPVC/EVOH/PE.
 8. The vial of claim 1, wherein the top portion isgenerally planar.